Crystal Beast
The Crystal Beasts, known in Japan as the Gem/Jewel Beasts are a series of Monster Cards that become Continuous Spell Cards after they are destroyed while monsters. Although weak in terms of actual strength, their aforementioned effects allow them to have great staying power. In addition, they are supplemented by many support cards which utilizes them in their Continuous Spell Card form. This archetype also contains the card "Rainbow Dragon", the ace card of the Crystal Beasts. It can be summoned quite easily as it can be only be played when there are the seven different Crystal Beasts on the field or in the graveyard (Or combination of both). The card can also be summoned with the effect of Rainbow Gravity. This archetype also contains one of the most powerful OTK setups with Crystal Abundance, making them robust even against overpowering opponents. The Crystal Beasts made their first appearance in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime, used by Jesse Anderson. In the English dub, each one of the Crystal Beast monsters, except "Ruby Carbuncle", imitates the voice of a real life movie celebrity. Interestingly enough, if you take the first letter of each crystal (excluding Emerald) you can spell CARATS (Cobalt, Amber, Ruby, Amethyst, Topaz, Sapphire), which is a measure of the mass of gemstones. : See also Advanced Crystal Beasts. Play Style Crystal Beast Decks tend to have a wide variety of searching options for putting Crystal Beast cards on the field, either summoned as monsters or placed in the Spell & Trap Card zone, and they have a couple of extra drawing options to speed up the use of the Deck. Because of these effects working together, Crystal Beast users can wind up many cards ahead of their opponent, and the various searching options facilitate the summoning of Rainbow Dragon far quicker than would otherwise be possible. The Archetype also supports come-from-behind wins quite easily due to the double whammy of Crystal Abundance, which wipes out everything on the field and then swarms the field with monsters from the Graveyard, and the Field Spell Card of the set, Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins, gains a new effect for every Continuous Spell Card Crystal Beast you control. The archetype is also somewhat resistant to opponents who use Spell and Trap destruction effects, as a couple of cards can quickly put the Crystal Beasts in Spell form back onto the back row from the Graveyard, and the Field Spell Card resists being destroyed itself. Weaknesses The back row of a Crystal Beast user can get clogged easily and generally must be left open for Crystal Beast Spell Card-form cards, so an effective Deck can't use any Continuous Spells or Continuous Traps. The archetype also relies upon the opponent destroying the Crystal Beasts in order to most quickly get them into the back row, so a clever opponent might simply summon a strong monster and avoid attacking the Crystal Beasts, instead using direct-attack or Burn-Damage tactics. Furthermore, "Hard-Sellin' Goblin" will force one Crystal Beast in your Spell/Trap Card Zone to be returned to your hand whenever your opponent successfully inflicts battle damage (which includes piercing damage), which will disrupt strategies that rely on having Crystal Beasts in your back row. Crystal Abundance, the trump card of the set, can also be easily stopped with a well-timed Counter Trap. Cards that attack your back row such as Heavy Storm and Giant Trunade can make it very difficult for you to survive, especially if your opponent attacks your Crystal Beast monsters first, so make sure you have Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins handy to negate their activation.However,Giant Trunade can sometimes lead to massive hand advantage,but should still only be used sparingly. Also, with the sole exception of Rainbow Dragon, most Crystal Beasts have sub-par ATK when compared to tributers, fusions and Synchro Summons, making it quite painful until Rainbow Dragon can be summoned. "Crystal Abundance" deck types will have even more trouble, considering they don't rely on powerful monsters such as Rainbow Dragon or "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder". Also, watch out for monsters such as "Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8", because you won't be able to use "Crystal Abundance", "Crystal Beacon", or any other major spell cards. A way to overcome this would be to add a "Gravi-Crush Dragon" to the Deck for back-up support. This playing style is easy to counter with cards that can destroy spells and traps. Also, Summoning Rainbow Dragon can be extremely difficult and can be destroyed easily. Optional Support Monsters * Rescue Cat * Seismic Crasher * Summoner Monk * Gravi-Crush Dragon * Magna-Slash Dragon * Dweller in the Depths * Anteatereatingant * Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings * Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder * Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest * Time Wizard * Kuraz the Light Monarch * Sea Koala Spells * Mage Power * Terraforming * Emergency Provisions * United We Stand * After the Struggle * Dark Hole Traps * Torrential Tribute * Treacherous Trap Hole * Needle Ceiling * Slip Summon * Magical Hats (select Crystal Release) * Two-Pronged Attack * Trap Stun Notes *If a Crystal Beast monster is destroyed while a card like Macro Cosmos/Banisher of the Radiance/Banisher of the Light/Dimensional Fissure is face up on the field, the player controlling the Crystal Beast is given the usual choice. In this situation, the Crystal Beast can either become a Continuous Spell card or be removed from play. The effect of the Crystal Beast monster still works. Deck Types Hamon Beatdown One of the more agressive crystal beast decks. Generally this deck does not contain a Rainbow Dragon simply due to the fact that the games do not tend to last long enough for him to hit the field. This deck uses Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, and Crystal Tree to fill the back row with crystal beasts, then tributing them for Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder. Once you figure out the way you wish to build this deck, you can OTK regularly. With the release of Absolute Powerforce, you can use Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings to add more swarm capabilities to the deck along with hand destruction if you cannot pull off the abundance OTK. In addition to Crystal Blessing another good recommendation is Crystal Counter for those situations when you draw too many Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder while not having enough crystal beasts in your back row to summon them. Recommended Cards Monsters * Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder * Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus Spells * Crystal Tree * Rare Value * Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins * Crystal Beacon * Crystal Blessing * Crystal Release Traps *Needle Ceiling *Torrential Tribute *Magical Hats (select Crystal Release, also see Dark Coffin) *Crystal Counter Crystal Abundance OTK The OTK is more competitive friendly. It utilizes Crystal Abundance's effect to work, so a few copies of the card is essential to have in the Deck, as well as a way to search it out (Different Dimension Capsule or Gold Sarcophagus work nicely). There must be four Crystal Beasts in the Spell & Trap Zone, plus an open slot to activate Crystal Abundance. Wait until you have five Crystal Beasts on the field or in your Graveyard with ATK of 1600 or more to activate the card. Upon activating Crystal Abundance, if your opponent had at least five cards on his/her field, all five of your monsters can be Special Summoned. Crystal Abundance leaves your opponent open to a direct attack. Another way to achieve this outcome is by the use of the Destiny Heroes. With the combination of the various normal spells and Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, it can make a speedy Deck. The three Crystal Beasts you will most likely use in this build would be Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus, Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth, and Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger since they are the strongest and will make for an easy win. Another way to make Crystal Abundance effect to work quickly is with Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle and Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus together. It's possible to combine this with Synchros for example a Stardust Dragon, to eliminate threats to activating Crystal Abundance. Recommended Monsters Monsters * Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus * Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth * Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger * Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle (optional) Spells * Crystal Abundance * Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins * Crystal Tree * Lightning Vortex * Smashing Ground Beast Type OTK With this type of Crystal Beast Deck you'll need the usual, except for Crystal Beast Cobalt Eagle or Crystal Beast Emerald Turtle who are not Beast-Type like the other Crystal Beasts (aside from Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle). The main combo is to swarm the field with Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus and Special Summon Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle to get your field filled with beasts. With your field filled with Crystal Beasts you can then use the key card The Big March of Animals to give your beasts 200 ATK power boost for each beast on your side of the field. This will give the power to OTK your opponent. Synchro-Crystal Beasts Basically, there are 3 types of Crystal Beasts Synchro. The first is the one that uses psychic tuners like Krebons and Psychic Commander, and Emergency Teleport to speed it up; the universal engine. Then with the release of X-Saber Airbellum in the Starter Deck 2009, you can add a mini Synchro Cat engine to it, by adding Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat. Because Emergency Teleport is limited. Another option is Jutte Fighter or Torapart with Reinforce Truth which can help you to get out synchro monsters faster. You can also use Flamvell Firedog to easily search for Flamvell Magician. You can also use Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings with Krebons to synchro for a 8 star Synchro Monster; and if you have any crystal beast in your spell/trap zone, you can bring back Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings on the next turn.You can mainly abuse the powers of rescue cat in synchro summoning for this deck. Mainly use level 2 and 3 tuner monsters and level 5-7 synchro monsters. The introduction of Key Mouse in The Shining Darkness expansion adds another beast type tuner monster along side X-Saber Airbellum and can allow for the Synchro summon of lower level Synchro monsters such as Armory Arm and Ally of Justice Catastor. Searching for Key Mouse with Rescue Cat also makes it easier to find, and Key Mouse's ability can find either X-Saber Airbellum or Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat. The Duelist Revolution introduces Lock Cat, allowing for easy summoning of 4 star Synchro monsters in conjunction with Key Mouse. Recommended Cards Monsters * Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus * Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger * Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth * Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat * Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle * Krebons * Psychic Commander * X-Saber Airbellum * Rescue Cat * Plaguespreader Zombie * Summoner Monk Spells * Emergency Teleport * Synchro Blast Wave * Smashing Ground Traps * Compulsory Evacuation Device * Starlight Road Synchro-Crystal Beasts featuring Equip Spells A well timed Power Tool Dragon can be a crucial Synchro target for crystal beast decks utilizing Mage Power and possibly United We Stand. With most crystal beast decks already utilizing Crystal Release it is very hard to not ever find 3 equip spells with Power Tool Dragon. A maximum sized Power Tool Dragon with just one Mage Power will equal a whopping 5300 attack. However, for this style of deck Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder is not a good recommendation as it's special summon cost will be very counter productive towards effectively using Mage Power. Flamvell Uruquizas can also be very effective with multiple Mage Powers and United We Stands for a quick victory. Synchro-Crystal Beasts featuring Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier If you have an active Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins with 4 or more crystal beast spells, you can draw 1 card per turn, however that 'once per turn' will no longer apply if the Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins is removed from the field. Simply discard 1 card to activate Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier's ability, then replay the Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins and activate it's forth ability to draw another card, and repeat as many times as you like. This loop is useful with Exodia the Forbidden One. Crystal Lock This deck uses Gravi-Crush Dragon, Magna-Slash Dragon, and Patrician of Darkness to form a small lockdown. Can be combined with Rainbow Dragon and Synchro-Crystal Beasts. Recommended General Cards * Rainbow Neos Monsters * Rainbow Dragon * Elemental Hero Neos * Gravi-Crush Dragon * Magna-Slash Dragon * Patrician of Darkness * White Night Dragon Spells * Lightning Vortex Light Spectrum This deck is based upon getting Rainbow Dragon with ease with the help of Lightsworn monsters, Charge of the Light Brigade and Solar Recharges. The milling helps to accumulate the seven Crystal Beasts in the Graveyard, making for the easy summoning of Rainbow Dragon. It will require 3 Rainbow Gravitys and 3 Monster Reincarnations. The choice of your Lightsworn monsters are completely up to you. This deck may be ineffective due to the March 2010 banlist because Charge of the Light Brigade was limited to one. Recommended Cards Monsters *Jain, Lightsworn Paladin *Ehren, Lightsworn Monk *Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter Spells *Charge of the Light Brigade *Solar Recharge *Monster Reincarnation Traps *Rainbow Gravity *Crystal Counter (Only if using Crystal Abundance) Recycling Gems This deck uses certain cards to quickly get all 7 Crystal Beasts on the field or in the Graveyard in order to summon Rainbow Dragon quicker. You can put more copies in of the Crystal Beasts if you want. Recommended Cards Monsters * Rainbow Dragon * Rescue Cat * Manticore of Darkness * Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder Spells * Magical Mallet * Nobleman of Crossout * Giant Trunade * Double Summon Traps * Sakuretsu Armor * Torrential Tribute * Rainbow Gravity * Dust Tornado